Monday, April 9, 2012

Hero has grown up

My Aussie Hero has come a long way in the past year or two. He used to be a whirling tornado of enthusiasm and hyperactivity in public, but he's settled down (I like to think we all improve in middle age!) and has become a real gentleman, at least as long as he's on the leash. He will graduate from his advanced obedience class next week, and I'm thinking about training him to be a therapy dog. He now heels beautifully in public, lets people pat him without jumping all over them, doesn't knock over small children with the force of his adoration, and joyfully shows off by performing a long list of tricks. People actually stop me and ask me how I trained him, and compliment me on how wonderful he is.

When your dog is of a breed that's this active and energetic, you have to dedicate a lot of time to training... but eventually it does pay off.

2 comments:

Oh, well, Impy has ALWAYS been a good dog. He already passed his advanced class, but since he's my daughter's dog, she handled him there. The only problem with Impy is that he's so smart he gets bored, and will refuse to cooperate after a while-- he gives you this, "Stupid human, I already DID that trick" look, and flops down on the floor. Hero is actually easier to train in that regard, because he's so dumb that you can keep him interested and excited with a pocketful of treats and a lot of praise.